


I'll Be Here

by OllyFlakes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam is a DJ, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bullying, Dogs, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Keith is 13, Klance is only really in the background, M/M, Matt and Allura are 20, More of everything to be added later, Muscular dystrophy, Romelle is 19, SPOILER TAGS:, Shiro and Adam are 21, Temporarily Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-06-15 14:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15414936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OllyFlakes/pseuds/OllyFlakes
Summary: Shiro doesn't let many people in, he lives with his kid brother Keith and works nights at a convenience store. His friend Matt introduces him to a DJ he met on a cruise named Adam.Maybe he'll let Adam in.





	1. Chapter 1

"Are you going to work already?" A thirteen-year-old Keith frowned as he softly pressed the bag of ice against his face.

"Allura's asked me to cover her shift, so I'm gonna be working until eleven. Think you manage until then?" Shiro adjusted the ugly grey and blue collar of his work uniform before grabbing his phone and his house key. Keith nodded, and removed the ice from his cheek and pressed his palm against the bruise to see if it hurt less, immediately wincing and putting the ice back defeatedly.

"There's some leftover curry in the fridge, and I want to hear about what happened when I get back, okay?" He put a hand on his little brother's shoulder and smiled. When Keith didn't give him a response, he ruffled his hair and walked out the door.

 

Once he walked into the twenty-four-hour convenience store, Matt began rambling about a new video game when he said something that peaked Shiro's interest.

"Oh, and I have some good news!"  
"You're finally going to buy proper deodorant?" Shiro replied with zero genuine grievance.

"You're absolutely _hilarious_. Do you remember the guy I met on the cruise ship that I told you about?"

"The old dude who your sister convinced you that he was an alien or the hot swimmer?"  
"Neither, I mean my DJ friend, the one with the glasses."  
"Ohh, what about him?"

"He's going to stay with me for a couple of months, it's gonna be amazing, _You'll love him_!" Matt clutched the mop and did some kind of mock ballroom dance with it, causing a slight giggle out of his friend. "When's he coming?"  
"Tomorrow afternoon, you and Keith should come and meet him."

Shiro smiled. "I'd love to."

The two of them continued to work for a while. "How's the kid been anyway?" Matt asked once a customer walked out the door with her plastic-tasting sausage-roll for dinner, the absolute madwoman.

"Not great, he came back with a pretty bad bruise. Wouldn't even tell me what happened." Shiro though about how Keith used to get into fights up until the seventh grade until it became more one-sided. Even though he was only in his first year of high school (and had technically skipped a grade) he already had his heart set on a university he was desperate to get into. Though he hadn’t even told Shiro what he wanted to study yet, he could easily guess that his little brother knew it was likely his chances of getting in would go down if he put another speck of dirt on his discipline record. Matt frowned a little, "Katie still calls me all the time, and she's pretty open. But I think she's been having trouble fitting in with the girls in her class. Which really sucks because she's super smart and cool, but she doesn't realise it and-" They both continued to ramble about their siblings.

 

Slowly, the hours passed and Shiro began walking home. A thin layer of snow had started to cover the pavement and reflected the glow from streetlights above. He sighed, somehow he and Keith had managed to go without heating for the start of winter, but Shiro knew he'd have to start paying soon. Before he could finish doing the math in his head, he had already gone up the flights of stairs and stood at the apartment door. After fumbling with his key for a few seconds, he was inside.

 

Too exhausted to even change or walk to his room, Shiro collapsed onto the couch. He wondered if he'd like this 'Adam' guy. Considering Matt's past track record of attracting some strange people, it was more likely to be a coin flip. He apparently had been a DJ who'd been staying in Australia of all places for the past three years. Maybe he was some kind of hippy DJ? With glasses of course, since that’s the only other thing Shiro had been told about him. Well, except that Shiro would 'love him'. While of course knowing that Matt had been exaggerating, he couldn’t help but wonder.

 

Shiro immediately shot up when he heard footsteps a few minutes later, only to see Keith walking out of the kitchen. "You scared me." Takeshi chuckled, turning on the TV to the infomercial channel.

"Sorry.." Keith tugged at the end of his sleeves and took a bite out of the cheese sandwich he held. He sat down next to Shiro and grabbed one of the spare blankets they had lying around. It was made by one of Shiro's friends, Allura. She had heard Shiro complaining about the cold last year and had made them several quilts and scarves.

After a few minutes of channel surfing, Shiro looked down at him. "Did that James kid pick on you again?"

Keith jumped a little in his spot on the couch. " _Not really_ , I guess." Shiro raised an eyebrow at him, a silent gesture for 'continue'. "We were playing basketball during PE and he accidentally pushed me over." The two of them both knew that it definitely was not an accident.

"Keith, you know you're allowed to transfer schools whenever right?"

"But the bus fares to the other one is more expensive and-" Shiro cut him off mid-sentence with an expression that somewhat resembled worry. "You shouldn't have to worry about money, Keith. That's _my_ job." He said softly. Keith made a noise of agreement and they both sat watching awful sitcoms until they both fell asleep on the couch.

 

\--

 

"Where're going again?" Keith poked his fork at the hastily made omelette.

"We-" Shiro paused to hit the send button on his phone. "-are going to go and meet Matt and the others. His friend from overseas is going to be there as well as Allura and Romelle."

Keith gave a small groan, although he'd go anyway. He liked Romelle. She always gave him and Shiro desserts left over from the bakery she worked at. Her younger brother was also in his grade and was actually nice to him. Allura was also really cool, she gave off that 'aunt that gives you sixty dollars every holiday' vibe. "I'll come if we can get ice cream on the way back."

Shiro rolled his eyes and grinned. "Just be ready in half an hour."

Maybe it'd be a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro and Keith walked into the McDonalds, neither of them understood why it had been chosen as a meeting place, except for the fact that Matt had an unnatural obsessions with M&M mcflurries. Glancing around the room, Shiro spotted Matt sitting at a 'booth' talking to someone with their back faced to them, who Shiro assumed was Adam. Curious as to what his face looked like, Shiro led Keith to the table.

"Hey guys! This is Adam." Matt waved, then gestured towards him and his brother. "Adam, this is Shiro and Keith."

Adam turned towards them and Shiro held out his hand. He shook it and they both exchanged a 'nice to meet you', Keith smiled meekly and said "Hi."

After Matt left to go order for everyone, and Keith had plugged in his earbuds, Shiro and Adam were pretty much left alone.

"So.. you're a DJ, right?" Shiro smiled and attempted to start a conversation.

"Yeah, but it's kinda unreliable, so it's not all I do. I actually came here to teach science, what about you?"

"Well I used to be attending some police academy thing but I had to give up because of personal reasons, now I work with Matt at his uncle's place. How'd you and him meet anyways? All I know is that it was on some cruise."

"He kept asking me to play his 'fire mixtape' and I said no until he offered to buy me this super expensive chocolate mousse. After that we sorta just hit it off." Adam smiled while Shiro laughed and tapped his fingers to fill the silence dwelling between the two of them for a minute.

"I know it's not really my place but," Adam fiddled with the watch on his right hand as he glanced towards Keith, who now had his face down on the table in between his arms and appeared to be asleep. "is Keith like your.. y'know…"

Shiro furrowed his brows for a second and chuckled when he realised what Adam meant. "Keith's not my one, I'm only twenty-one dude. He's just my little brother."  
Adam went red and then smiled. "Sorry, I was just curious because-"

"I bring a filling and nutritious meal for my subjects, eat well." Matt cut Adam off as he put down two trays onto the table for the four of them to share.

 

Not even a minute later, Allura ran up to them. "I'm so, so, so sorry we're late!" She buried her face in her hands as Romelle stood beside her, breathing like she'd ran a marathon.

"You can order on your own. I arrived five minutes early like a normal person." Matt groaned, the overly punctual bastard.

Shiro laughed and turned towards his brother who had his hood up and was fast asleep, ignoring his fries.

"Wake up kid, foods here." Takashi said, nudging Keith in the shoulder, who said nothing and just ate.

 

"This is Allura and Romelle. Ladies, this is my man Adam." Matt introduced the three of them to each other as the six of them all struggled to fit in the booth. Romelle tucked her skirt underneath her legs as she sat next to Adam, who offered her some of his drink with a smile. Which caused the blonde to blush and thank him profusely. As Shiro saw this, he smiled. He knew that things had been tough for Romelle, and that a partner could cheer her up.

 "Oh my god, we need to leave. Like, right now." Keith whispered to Shiro, sliding under the table as everyone else became absorbed in conversation.

"Well that's rude, what's the problem?"  
"There's a kid from my class here, and I cannot let him see me, ever." Keith's cheeks were bright red as he pointed at a tall-ish, scrawny kid with a choppy haircut with what looked like a large family.

"Why not- wait, wait, wait. Is that the Lance kid you're always telling me about? The one who's really annoying but also super cu-"

"Yes and shut up!"

For whatever reason Shiro just had to laugh as loud as possible, causing Lance to look over. Keith immediately attempted to hide his face and punch his brother in the ribs.

 

"So, Adam. Where're you going to be living?" Allura tilted her head a little as she held her chin in her hand.

"I moved into one of the apartments in that 'Element Complexes' place down the road yesterday, actually."

"Really? Guess you must be our new neighbour then, hope you like it there man." Shiro smiled, knowing that it'd be pretty damn hard to enjoy living there, remembering he himself struggling to sleep due to the comically unreliable heating systems and the couples fighting in rooms both above and below him.

\--

After about half an hour everyone started to leave. As Shiro and Keith put the remains of their lunch in the trash can, Adam approached them. "Do you two want a lift back? My car's not great but it's probably better than the bus." He rubbed the back of his neck, and Shiro grinned. "We'd love that, but you don't have to."

"No, really. It's my pleasure. And plus, I'll probably get lost anyways," Adam gave them a tight-lipped smile when Shiro said "Ah, why not?"

 

"Hey Keith," Adam said as the three of them walked down the hallway "do you like dogs?" Keith's eyes clearly lit up at the statement but he shrugged and just said "Sure, I guess." Adam opened one of the many doors with his key and almost immediately afterwards, a full-grown Rhodesian Ridgeback came tumbling out and tackled Keith. Shiro jumped back a little and laughed as Keith panicked at first but then smiled and rubbed behind the dog's ears. "His name's Chopper, he's a sweetheart." Adam said to Shiro without him needing to even ask. "Anyway, I'll see you two later, have a nice weekend." Clicking his fingers down low and whistling a little to signal at Chopper to follow him, Adam walked inside and waved.

 

"Are you okay?" Keith turned back to look at his brother as he climbed the stairs.   
"I'm fine buddy, my legs are just tired." Takashi gave a weak yet reassuring smile as he grabbed onto the rail, he had to change the subject.

"Have you got any plans for today?" He looked at Keith and then realised. "Crap, I forgot to get you that ice-cream, sorry."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Keith ignored both of his brother's statements as he tugged on the hems of his shirt. Takashi then strained and picked Keith up to put him onto his shoulders.

"Oh my god, put me down right now Takashi, I'm thirteen!"

"Sorry? I can't hear you all the way down there!"

"I hate you so much." Keith weakly attempted to kick him in the chest as Shiro raced through the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof sorry that took forever.  
> I was also just wondering, would you guys personally want background klance of just focus on Adashi?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluff fluff fluff

Romelle's long, blonde pigtails bounced around the air as she turned around to hand Shiro the two small, white paper bags containing both meat pie for him, and a sausage roll for Keith. Shiro had figured it'd be a nice treat for his brother after school on a Monday.  
"So, Adam.." Shiro leaned over the counter and raised an eyebrow at her.  
"What about him?" Romelle struggled to hold back a smile, and she grabbed two small packets of tomato sauce out of the little basket sat on the far right of the counter.  
"What'd you think about the guy?"  
"He's nice, I guess.."  
"And handsome~?" Shiro put on a poor falsetto as he pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, and Romelle fumbled with her words for a few seconds.  
"You said it, not me. But yeah, he's amazing." She pushed a few strands of hair out of her pink-tinted face and handed the packets to Shiro.  
"I'm sure if you asked him for dinner or something he'd say yes," And he wasn't lying either.  
"Stop making fun of me.." Romelle held her cheeks tightly in her palms and biting her lip, but still smiling.  
"C'mon, you know I'm not," He said with his mouth full of hot mince. "if you want, I could put in a good word for you."  
"Really?" Her eyes sparkled.  
"Sure thing, I'll tell him about your ability to spend twelve minutes deciding over two bottles of conditioner-" He saw Romelle jokingly pout at him, and simply couldn't stop himself from laughing.  
"Anyway," She said, waiting for Takashi to stop giggling at her. "would you wanna come to that music festival that's on next month?" Shiro thought for a moment, he hadn't been to a music festival since he was in school. "Depends on who's playing I guess?"  
"Well, they haven't released the lineup yet, but it's usually pretty good so.."  
"If I'm free, I'd love to then." He smiled, and then they said goodbye to each other before he left the bakery.

  
Keith used the fork to slowly push his microwaved dinner around the plate, using his other hand to hold his chin up.  
"How was school today?" Takashi smiled.  
"Well, that Adam guy is my new science teacher I guess." Keith batted his eyes up and grinned a little when he saw his brother choke slightly.  
"Did you talk to him at all?"  
"Not much, it's kinda awkward."  
When Shiro heard that Adam was in the city to teach, he didn't even consider that he'd be teaching Keith. Not that he had a problem with it or anything. Hell, it could even be a good thing. Takashi had spent a lot of time thinking about how to get Keith to tell him more about school; and while he didn't want to invade his brother's privacy, he figured it'd be better to know if he was doing okay with his other classmates (he knew that James kid gave him a rough time, but there's no way Keith has a dynamic like that with everyone his age, right?).  
"Looks like you're gonna have to study the periodic table a bit more, buddy." A smile tugged at Shiro's lips.  
"Ugh, I wish he taught literally anything other than science. Now you're going to know about my bad grades like, all the time."  
They continued chatting mindlessly for roughly twenty minutes until Shiro got up and said: "I'm gonna go for a jog down the street, cool?"  
"See ya." Keith stared at his phone and walked over to the couch.  
  
Takashi's heart pounded as he ran through the street and his sweat gleamed underneath the streetlamps. The trees above him were already beginning to lose their leaves and would soon be sprinkled with frost, Shiro had never liked winter. All his memories of being in his teens and sleeping in parks next to his brother as their teeth chattered and the grass around them was covered in dew. He began to run slower, not a single star in the night sky was visible from behind the pools of dark clouds above him. It was going to rain on him, wasn't it? He pulled out his phone and the blue light engulfed his face as he checked the time, which read 7:23.  
  
"Fancy meeting you here." Shiro whipped his head around to look at the source of the voice. He saw Adam with Chopper on a bright blue lead.  
"Oh. Hey man," He put his phone away. "what're you doing out here?"  
"Walking.. My dog?" Adam said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was.  
"What about you?" His eyes scanned over the plastic bottle of water in Shiro's left hand. "Just out for a run. I was just about to head back." He smiled and sat down on a bench a few metres away from where they stood, and Adam walked over to sit down next to him, unzipping his dark blue tracksuit a little with one hand as he adjusted his black-rimmed glasses with the other.

"Did Keith tell you I'm teaching him now?" Adam asked, smiling. Shiro chuckled,  
"Yeah. He a good a student?"  
"I mean, I've only had him in my class for like, a day." He scratched the back of his neck. "But he's quiet, which I can definitely appreciate, and-" He felt a drop of rain on the end of his nose and Shiro groaned as he looked up at the rain that was beginning to fall above them.  
"Wanna get undercover?" Adam's eyes drifted to look over at the bus shelter down the street as the two of them stood up, Shiro nodded.  
  
The bus shelter was covered top to bottom in brightly coloured graffiti tags that were impossible to read, a few notices and missing animal posters, rust and of course, spray-painted penises. The rain tapped on top of the shelter almost melodically. The two of them sat in silence for twenty-something minutes, watching people walk through the street; teenagers holding hands and sharing hot pink umbrellas, men and women walking home from working overtime, staring at the pavement, parents carrying several bags of groceries and a hundred other kinds of people, all roaming the streets. A dog barked- Adam's dog, it then licked Shiro's left knee and Adam tugged on the lead a little, looking flustered.  
"It's fine, I love dogs." Shiro smiled at him and petted the top of Chopper's head, he then looked to his right at Adam, who had a soft smile resting on his face.

The rainwater slowly ran through cracks in the pathway and began to fill the gutter as the two of them sat together, their comfortable silence was disturbed however when Shiro’s phone made a sound. Pulling it out from his pocket, he saw that Romelle had sent him a photo of her pet rabbit sleeping on her coat. Smiling, he remembered something as he typed out a reply. “What do you think of Romelle?” He turned to Adam.  
“She’s the blonde one, right?” Adam rested his hands on his lap and bit his lip, Shiro nodded and waited for him to continue.  
“Well. She’s kind I suppose, I like her.” Though he didn’t sound as enthusiastic as Shiro had hoped he would, there was a grin on his face.

For about half an hour, Shiro told Adam anecdotes about himself, Romelle, Matt, Keith and Allura as he listened closely; until they realised an hour had already passed and rain was _still_ pouring down. Probably even heavier than before. “Ah, shit. Looks like we’re gonna have to sprint back.” Shiro stood up and Adam woke his dog.  
“Yeah, you ready?”

They realised how ridiculous the two of them must have looked galloping through the streets about three seconds away from slipping over and cracking their head open on the concrete. Adam held his messenger bag over his head and smiled widely as he followed Shiro, who was also grinning like an idiot. By the time they had returned to the apartment complex, both of their shoes were soaked and their hair frizzed.  
“I’ll see you later?” Shiro took off his coat as he walked down the hall.  
“Yeah, say hi to Keith for me!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long!

Keith sat at the small desk and softly dragged his fingernails across its surface, staring at the pencil lines, the pen lines, the liquid white-out lines that made crude drawings, random words and phone numbers. His teacher, who he now knew as Adam, had been droning on and on about uranium. Well, he wasn’t really droning. Mr Wagner was actually pretty good for a teacher at his school, Keith just hated science, along with a lot of other subjects.

“Hey!”   
Keith looked over to two desks away and saw Lance. Looking at him, he gave his classmate a confused look.

“Can I borrow a pencil?” Lance held out his hand.

“We’re already twenty minutes in?” Keith furrowed his eyebrows and abruptly faced the front of the class when he heard his teacher’s voice.

“I know that, but we haven’t written anything ‘til now and-”

Adam cleared his throat and wrote their names on the whiteboard. Keith didn’t really mind the idea of staying for a fraction of lunch, it was just that it wasn’t his fault.

“Sir, Lance was the one talking!” Keith raised his hand and looked Adam in the eye, who opened his mouth to respond when James Griffin snickered and said something to his friend. Keith didn’t hear much except for ‘liar’ and he knew that it shouldn’t have made him as pissed off as it did, but he didn’t care, Griffin had always pissed him off. Adam sent a glare at James who instantly shut up and then continued to teach the class.

 

The two of them sat in what was almost silence, except for Keith clicking his pen, much to Lance’s obvious annoyance. As Adam shut down the projector and closed his cheap laptop he thought about what he had to say. Adjusting his glasses, he walked over to the boys. Keith put up his hand, he knew it probably looked weird since there were only three people in the room. “Yes?” Adam pointed at him.

“Why didn’t you make James stay in too?”

“Because you two talked for a longer amount of time.”

Keith supposed that was fair enough. He looked at the clock, the five minutes was almost up. Lance took the opportunity to ask their teacher about the current assignment, which Keith had completely forgotten about. He looked out the window to see some of his classmates talking when he made split-second eye contact with Griffin himself.

 

As Lance left the classroom to the already noisy courtyard, Adam asked Keith to stay for another minute. Thinking it was more punishment, Keith was about to protest when Adam made it clear that he just wanted to talk with the boy. “I’m sorry I had to keep you in, kid.” He sounded genuine while he scratched the back of his neck. “I get it, it’s fine.” Keith crossed his arms.

“Did what James said upset you?”

Keith looked up at him.    
“No it’s just-” He huffed. “That guy’s always hated me. Even though he started everything.”

“What do you mean?” 

Keith paused. He had only known this guy for a few days. But there probably wasn’t a way he could leave without telling him.

“When we were like, eleven he was making fun of my parents so I punched him. Now he just doesn’t leave me alone.”

Adam gave him a look of what Keith could only see as concern, not pity. 

“I appreciate you telling me, you can go to lunch now.” He smiled.

  
Adam sat at his desk in the staffroom, picking at the salad he bought on the way this morning as he lazily typed out a message on his phone to Shiro (Matt had given him his number.) 

 

-Hey, it’s Adam. Can I talk to you later today?   
  


As he walked through the courtyard to his next lesson he thought about whether it was his place to talk to Shiro about Keith, until he spotted Keith standing against a wall by himself with another mark on his face. 

 

\--

 

“So what was it you wanted to talk about.” Shiro took a sip out of the coffee and looked around  Adam’s apartment. It was tidy, except for the dog toys littering the floor. He noticed what looked like a photo of Adam and two women who were slightly taller than him. Shiro assumed that they were Adam’s sisters, judging by the shared resemblance between the three of them.

“Well, Keith wasn’t doing great today.”   
Shiro’s face fell. “Did he get into a fight?” The school was supposed to call him when these things happen, his grip on the mug tightened.

“No no no. Well, kind of-” Adam ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve noticed that there’s a student he hasn’t been ‘getting along with’ and I’m worried that there’s some bullying going on.”

Shiro shifted in his chair, he knew Keith had problems at school, but he thought he was at least mostly okay nowadays.

“Was he okay?” Shiro asked. He hadn’t seen Keith yet that day, having gone from work to Adam’s house.

“He had a bit of a graze on the side of his face but I think that was about it.” 

Shiro uncomfortably stood up when he was hit with a pang of guilt, “Sorry to leave so soon but I should really go check on him.”   
The two of them said goodbye to each other and Adam agreed to update him if anything else happened.

 

“Keith?” Shiro opened the door to his apartment and only just saw Keith knock the glass off the table in surprise. Shiro kicked himself, he knew not to sneak up on him. Keith froze and immediately dropped to the floor attempting to pick up the shards with his hands, cutting his fingers while the knees of his pants soaked up water from the tiles. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll pick it up I’m sorry!” He said frantically, yet quietly. Shiro walked over to his brother with his hands out. “Keith it’s- it’s okay. We’re not at that home anymore.” 

Keith slowly put down the glass when he was hugged, he thought about why was it so hard for him to know he was safe with Takashi. “Sorry.” He said into Shiro’s shirt. “Don’t apologize, you’re fine. I swear.”

Shiro put disinfectant and band-aids on some of the bigger cuts. Luckily enough, Keith had only gotten one piece of glass stuck in his hand, which he insisted on getting out himself with the tweezers. 

 

As Shiro swept up the broken glass he went to confront his brother about what was happening at school, but when he heard Keith sniffling he decided it could wait, he already wasn’t feeling well and the last thing Shiro wanted to do was add more stress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry this chapter took forever.


	5. Chapter 5

Shiro was pretty much used to how loud the city was at night, although that didn’t mean it wasn’t still annoying. He could still hear the sound of cars that were definitely speeding on the main road over the trashy pop music playing in the convenience store. Keith had decided he wanted to come and hang out at his brother’s work for no particular reason. And while Shiro normally wouldn’t (too many creeps came in at night), he didn’t have school the next day and was helping out for some pocket money, mainly wiping down shelves when he wasn’t reading or hanging out in random parts of the place. Matt stood behind the counter and texted someone on his phone while Shiro restocked some of the candy.    
“Chuck me a bag of M&M’s?” Matt held out his hands, Shiro knew he’d pay for it later and compiled as two young teens walked in the door, a boy around Keith’s age who was lanky with short, messy hair and blue eyes with a girl next to him with long curly hair who Shiro recognized as Matt’s younger sister.

“Maaatt, can we please have some money for the arcade?” She pressed her small hands onto the counter.

“You and Lance already ran out? Your fault.” Matt laughed a little.

“Isn’t it kind of late for you kids to be out?” Shiro smiled and put down the bags he was supposed to be putting on shelves.

“It’s only, like eleven.” The boy, who Shiro remembered was Lance said, swaying his hand when Keith emerged from the magazine section with his hands stuffed into his pockets.“Lance?”

“Mullet?”   
“Don’t call me that.”   
“Why’re you here?”    
“My brother works here, idiot. What’re you doing?”

“Going to the arcade and beating Pidge at everything.”   
“Oh yeah? Bet you’re not as good as me.” They smiled at each other before Keith turned to his brother. “Takashi, can I go with Lance and Katie?”

Shiro looked at Keith’s puppy eyes and sighed. He really didn’t think Keith should be out late at night, but he also knew that it was rare for his brother to actually want to hang out with kids his age. “Fine, be careful and wait at Katie and Matt’s until my shift ends once you’re done. Okay?” Shiro reached into his pocket handed him a ten dollar bill. “Yeah, yeah thanks.”

After Katie had successfully pressured her own brother into giving her money, the three of them left the shop with smiles.

“I thought Keith and Lance hated each other?” Matt popped a few M&M’s into his mouth. 

“I think they’re sorta friends, Keith talks about him a lot.” Shiro laughed.

“Anyways-” Matt leaned forward, “-spill the beans, how long do you think ‘til Romelle and Adam get together?”

Shiro tensed a little at the question and couldn’t quite figure out why.

“How do you know that they will?”

“I went out for lunch with Romelle and she could not stop talking about him, it was almost adorable. It was all ‘aren’t his glasses so fetch?’ and ‘his smile really rattles my teabags!.” Matt’s poor impression of Romelle’s dialect somehow sounded accurate to Shiro. He had already known Romelle was crushing pretty hard but didn’t expect it too last longer than a week or two. “I guess it all depends on if  Adam likes her back.”

“I mean, he’s gotta, right? It’s Romelle.”   
“We’ll see.” Shiro went to grab another bag of candy to put on the shelf, only to realise the box was empty. He excused himself to go and get something to clean with and made his way to the supply closet. Flicking on the small, crappy lightbulb his attention was drawn to what looked like a sketchbook in the corner, briefly recalling Keith saying he had lost it about a month ago. Which was the last time he had accompanied Shiro at work. The book itself was tiny, about A6 in size which allowed him to easily fit it into his pocket, but before he could, he figured he should probably confirm it was his brother’s.

Opening it to about 30 or so pages in, there was a drawing done with a blue ballpoint pen of who he recognised as Lance with several hearts surrounding the sketch. Shiro closed the book with a small chuckle. Yep, it was definitely Keith’s.   
\--

The arcade was pretty small, it was connected to a bowling alley and only had a few claw machines, an air hockey table, a pinball game and most importantly, the iconic ‘Dance Dance Revolution’. Katie almost immediately raced towards one of the claw machines and put in a dollar. From what Keith could tell, she seemed to be aiming for a small frog plushie. The claw miraculously picked the toy up but dropped it just as fast. 

“Shit!” Katie hung her head before a few younger children looked over after hearing her shout. Lance laughed and patted her on the back before dragging Keith to DDR and announced “You and me, three rounds. One DDR, the next pinball, and finally... Air hockey!” 

“How are we supposed to compete at pinball?”

“We just see who has a higher score, duh.”

 

As the three of them had expected, Lance won the first round. Allegedly, he had competed with one of his sisters since he was six. While Keith struggled to even keep up the coordination between his eyes and legs. However, the pinball round proved that Keith did in fact, have great hand-eye coordination.

“I could still probably do better,” Katie smirked and made a clumsy attempt to flick her ponytail.   
  


Keith smiled back. “Yeah, probably.”   
Meanwhile, Lance was red in the face. “There’s still one round left, dipshit! Don’t go getting cocky!” Evidently, Lance was still in his phase of ‘holy shit, I’m old enough to swear as much as I want!’.

“I wasn’t-” Before Keith knew it, he had been dragged over to the air hockey table.

“First to seven points wins, no more.” Lance quickly put in a two dollar coin and Keith set the puck onto the table’s cold, white surface and they began playing. Lance had a strong start and was able to get to three points before Keith even got one, but ultimately lost by two.

 

The three teens sat on the curb with ice cream, watching cars fly past them under the night sky,

“I still can’t believe you beat me!” Lance groaned.

“I definitely can.” Katie laughed.

Keith smiled, not sure what to say. He had always been friends with Katie because of their brothers, and therefore had spent time with Lance, but had never really known for sure if they were friends or not. About half a minute later, Keith realised he had definitely tuned out of the conversation.

“I don’t like the guy, he’s got a stick up his ass!” Lance said, finishing his vanilla ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

“Who?” Keith stuck his head forward.

“The new science teacher guy.”   
“I think he’s cool.” Keith pouted. 

“He’s friends with Shiro and Matt.” Katie piped up.

“You just don’t like him because you get in trouble for talking to like, everyone.” Keith snickered and Lance gasped offendedly. “I most certainly do not!” He put a hand over his chest to feign being dramatic but had a grin plastered on his face.

The three of them laughed harder than they should’ve, like nothing could’ve ruined their night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes pidge has long hair

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!


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